Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-06-16
"Charles Egbert Craddock.~

SouSdoiou DIS UndG cFodteO ny tnc us
covery of a feminine personality be-
hind the nom de plume of Charles
Egbert Craddock. While well known
that Craddock was an assumed name,
the style, subject-matter, even the
handwriting, contained no feminine
suggestions. Yet Miss Mary Noailles
Murfree is distinctly a woman in the
truest sense, possessing feminine ac-.
complishments and attractions that
have made her always a social leader
and favorite. Speaking of her as
woman, friend has said, 1T is re-
freshlng to find an intellectual woman
free from George Eliot's haunting
spectre of despair, and the morbid
wretchedness of Charlotte Bronte's
nervous little body; to see the cheer
fulness and vivacity of Jane Austen
and Maria Edgeworth once more
united to genius and womanly tastes
and feelings-to Christian faith, pu-
rity, and goodness.
On the paternal side, Miss Murfree
is descended from distinguished
family of North Carolina, her great
grandfather, Major Hardy Murfree,
for whom the towns of Murfreesbor-
ough, in North Carolina and Tennes-
see are named, having done good SER
vice in the Revolutionary war, and
received in return a large grant of
land IN Tennessee, upon which Charles
Egbert Craddock-she prefers to be
known by this name-was born. Her
grandfather, for many years a member
OF Congress from North Carolina, re-
moved to Tennessee, where her father,
a man of some literary attachments,
was, prior to the war, prominent
lawyer possessed of extensive landed
estates. Her mother-whose mother
was Murfree-comes of one of the
leading and most influential families
in the State. Becoming lame from
stroke of paralysis in her childhood,
which in no wise dimmed an mu-
sually bright disposition, she was de-
barred from the ordinary amuse-
ments of youth, and developed a read
ing habit, was always a hard student
in school and out, encouraged by an
intellectual and cultivated family
circle. But doubtless she would never
have achieved her brilliant literary
success had not the fortunes of war
proved disastrous. Mr.. Murfree found
it necessary to give up his house in
Nashville, and Grantlands, Craddock's
birthplace, was the battlefield of
Murfrees This old home
stead and its surroundings she has ac-
curately described in her first novel,
''Where the Battle was Fought "a
book of strong parts, but deficient in
construction, yet containing one of her
most perfectly drawn and finished
characters, General Wayne, a portrait
from the life In this emergency the
family retired to Murfree's Rock, a
small cottage perched upon a crag
near Beersheba, a watering-place in
the Tennessee mountains, where they
were wont to spend the summer
months Here in this elevated region,
overlooking miles of valleys, noun
tains, and undulating hills, peopled
with the picturesque and primitive
race of her romances, she uncon-
sciously absorbed the material for her
future work. Standing on the porch
of the little cottage, gazing out over
the magnificent landscape at sunset,
she formulated in her mind a story
which ultimately grew into the ex-
quisite The Star in the Valley" But
it was not written then. About nine
years ago, after the family had gone
down to live at the sadly-altered old
homestead, near Murfreesborough
before the final move to ST. Louis,
first story of I'm the Tennessee Noun
tains" came into existence. This was
'sThe Dancin' Party at Harrison's
Cove, which first saw the light in the
atlantic Monthly. Other stories fol-
lowed, each exhibiting rare descrip-
tive powers a gift which she has
since somewhat abused-a strong
grasp of novel subject and dialect,
and style at once bold and delicate.
1t is little wonder that when collected
in a volume their publication was an
event, that sensation resulted from
the discovery that woman of society
had written ''A-PIayin' of Old Sledge
at the Settlement" and ''The 'Harnt'
that Walks Chilhowee," depicting
with masculine force the fierce pas
slons, the minute daily life, of scant
civilization-a seemingly difficult task
for mans accomplishment. But it Is
characteristic of Miss Murfree's en-
ergy and earnestness that no obstacle
raised merely by her sex is permitted
to block the work in hand; thus she
made careful study of the game of
poker for the sake of a scene in
''Where the Battle was Fought, and
has acquired a knowledge of many
abstruse points of law. Her second
novel, "The Prophet of the Great
Smoky Mountains" in which is I'M
folded the story of an illiterate noun
tain preacher and his wrestlings with
unbelief, is a series of splendid scenes.
somewhat disconnected, Astounding in
beautiful and graphic descriptions, and
dealing entirely with the mountain
GERS, thus lacking the variety which
enhanced the charm Of many of the
shorter stories. ''In the Clouds" her
latest work, shows mastery of con-
struction, in which its predecessors
were deficient, possesses their salient
features with some new ones, and
goes far to establish an already as
sured reputation.-Cha ". Cole
man, Jr., IN HGrpers.